Focused ion beam induced structural modifications in thin magnetic films.

Focused ion beam techniques are one way to modify locally the properties of magnetic thin films. We report on structural investigations of 50 nm thick non-ordered nano-crystalline Permalloy (Ni81Fe19) films modified by 30 keV Ga+ focused ion beam (FIB) irradiation. From the X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements a considerable crystallite growth and a material texturing towards (111)-direction with a linearly increasing lattice constant was observed. In addition cross-sectional transmission electron microscope (XTEM) images show that crystallites are growing through the entire film at high irradiation fluences.
Extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis shows a perfect near-order coordination corresponding to a face-centered (fcc) unit cell for both FeNi and Ga atom surrounding. The structural changes are accompanied by a decrease of saturation polarization with increasing ion fluence. Such behavior is attributed to a simple incorporation of non-magnetic Ga atoms in the Permalloy film.